Hi, can you explain to me about king/queen, regnant, regency, and lines of succession? If my queen character dies does her husband, the king, keep ruling or does their child son really become king? TIA
“King” Doesn’t Mean “Husband of the Queen...”
I’m so glad you asked, Anon, because this is something that drives me crazy in a lot of YA fantasy.
Kings and queens (and the various alternative titles in other languages and cultures) are functions of monarchy, “mono” (or “one”) being the operative word there. In other words, most monarchs do not share power with their spouses. There are certainly examples of co-ruling (or coregent) kings and queens in history, but they’re very rare.
Kings Regnant & Queens Consort
Kings are almost always regnant, meaning that they are the one with the power. The wife of a king regnant is almost always considered a “queen consort” meaning that she does not have any power. She does not co-rule with her husband and would not inherit the throne if he dies.
Queens Regnant & Princes Consort
Queens can also be regnant, usually because they inherited the throne. The husband of a queen regnant is almost never called a “king consort” (though there are a few exceptions and almost exceptions.)
The word “king” carries too much weight, so giving it to the husband of a regnant queen implies that he has equal or more power than she does, and in a monarchy without coregency, you obviously want to avoid that. For this reason, the husband of a regnant queen is usually called a “prince consort.” That’s why Queen Elizabeth II’s husband is “Prince Phillip” and not “King Phillip.” Queen Victoria actually wanted Prince Albert to have the title “king consort,” but her council wouldn’t hear of it since he was a foreign prince, and it felt too much like ceding partial power of Great Britain to Germany.
The “line of succession” refers to the order in which the throne is passed down in the event of the monarch’s death. Most monarchies subscribe to something known as “primogeniture” which is a rule dictating that the throne is passed to the monarch’s oldest legitimate child. If the monarch has no living legitimate children, the line of succession usually passes through the children of the monarch’s oldest sibling. If the monarch has no siblings, you would start to get into cousins and the children of cousins, etc.
Primogeniture can be male-preference, female-preference, or absolute (which means gender doesn’t matter.)
In any case, the monarch’s spouse is almost never in the line of succession. In the rare event their rule was coregent, however, then presumably the queen would continue to rule after her husband’s death, or she may choose to abdicate and pass the throne to their eldest child if they’re old enough to rule.
Regency for a Monarch in Minority
When a monarch is unable to rule due to illness, absence, or minority of age, someone can be named “regent,” meaning that they will rule on behalf of the young monarch until they are old enough to rule on their own. Depending on the age of the young monarch, the regent may have total power or they may simply assist and guide them in their duties. The spouse of the deceased monarch is a common choice for regent, but the monarch’s oldest or most capable sibling or royal cousin are other possibilities. It would typically be someone who is already close to the throne. And, the moment the young monarch comes of age--or in the case of a sick or absent monarch, the moment they’re able to resume their duties--the regent’s powers revert back to the monarch.
So... in the case of your story... your king would only keep ruling if your queen and king were coregent. If not, his title probably wouldn’t be “king” but prince consort. If they were ruling jointly, yes, he’d continue to rule. If they weren’t ruling jointly, then he would probably be named regent until the child is old enough to rule on their own. You could also see a situation where the council is concerned about giving that kind of power to a king consort/prince consort, and so they give it instead to a sibling or cousin of the regnant queen’s. You can do whatever makes the most sense in your story. Would this consort be trusted with the regency?
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